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Tensions were high. Everyone had a straight face except for one. You. Have you ever played poker and not been able to contain your excitement or your sadness? It happens to the best of us, so here's how you beat it!
Relax. No matter how much money you are playing for, remember that it is a game. Clear your mind. Not only will you play better, but you will be one step closer to a good poker face. Just relax-let everything fall into place.
Talk as normally as possible. When you are betting and talking, it is easy to tell how someone is feeling by the way that they talk. So again, relax. When it comes down to you and someone else, try to psych them out. Have a mischievous gleam in your eye and a "you are so on" look in your eyes as well. Don't let it show on your face, let your eyes to the talking.
Maintain an emotionless, apathetic demeanor. You want a tough, "I-play-poker-all-the-time-rookie" expression that says that you are the boss. Imagine that you are the big, scary company boss, and the other players are the interns. Keep focused & be mysterious. However, if you are just playing a family game for bragging rights and cookies, feel free to loosen up a little. Keep a straight face no matter what. It goes back to relaxation.
Win gracefully. It is down to you and another person. (S)he lays down his/her cards. You see that you have won. It's acceptable to smile a little and have a "It-is-all-over" look. Remember, it is just a game—don't go overboard.
Lose with pride. Whether it is as the beginning of a game, or when it is just you and another person, lose with pride. You can even smile as if it were all according to plan. But again, if it is with your family, relax - you lost, oh well.
Poor poker face? Try this ...
How to Bluff in Poker
-Know your game. Can you predict when one player is going to take the pot without showing his hand? Bluffing involves recognizing that situation and exploiting it.
-Don't bluff too much. It is essential that the other players think you only play good hands.
-The basic bluff goes like this: You have nothing. Your opponents have nothing. You bet. They fold. Sometimes it's difficult even to make people throw away an inside straight. Know your opponents. Watch for signs of disgust with their hand.
-Bluffing is best with a very small pot because no one really wants to vie for it with you. They think to themselves, "alright, if he has something good, he'll win.
-If he doesn't, I might win but it's not worth the risk." Although it doesn't seem like much money, it can be your edge if you do it well.
-It is a mistake to think that there are no mathematics involved in bluffing. It is mathematically a good idea to bluff if you are in late position against one or two opponents going into the flop. The small pool guarantees that no one has a very good idea of what the other person has. In other words it's a high risk bet for everyone.
-Betting into a high risk pot is bad poker strategy, so if a young/inexperienced player bets, he is probably bluffing (raise him) and if the player is older and better, you can trust his bet is backed up with at least something (fold). Keep in mind that the early position player might try to draw a bluff by checking if he has a good hand. That's part of the game.
-Conversely, it's generally not a good idea to bluff if a lot of people saw the flop. There is a very good chance that someone made at least a two pair or trips (the average winning hand in 10-handed holdem). It will take a very strong bet and strong reputation to scare away someone with a real hand.
-Some flops (three of a kind for example) lend themselves towards bluffing (betting with nothing) or semi-bluffing (overbetting your hand). For a flop to be "bluffable" it must be rare and there must be a small number of ways to win. Three queens on the flop is a perfect example. There is anxiety about who has the pocket pair. Fear and risk are a bluffer's best friends because good poker players look for easy money. In this case it is best to bluff in early position because if someone in early position has the nuts, they are likely to check and call the bluff.
-One fundamental requirement for successful bluffing is a table with other players who are thinking about what cards YOU have. In many low stakes (so called "No Fold'em) Hold'em games, players think only about their own hands; in these games, a bluff will rarely work.
-And most importantly: You don't have to show your cards if everyone else folds. You can take the pot and leave everyone to wonder what you had. This is almost always advisable.
Gambling Tips
by Adel Awwad
In order for a player to enjoy a more pleasant and memorable time at a casino, while taking precautions to minimise one's losses, it is very important to follow a basic set of gambling tips or guidelines.
Understand the game: This may seem like a very obvious rule, but you would be surprised at how many people place bets on games they don't fully understand. This rule may apply more to certain games (i.e. Roulette) than other games (i.e. Slots), but generally speaking, it is more advantageous for a player to fully understand the rules of a game before betting on it.
Budget your money: Place a limit on the money that you can afford to gamble with and lose. Never exceed that amount or gamble with money that you can't afford to lose. Leaving your ATM cards and credit cards at home may be a good way to ensure that you won't be tempted to exceed your budget limit.
Never borrow money to gamble: To fall into the habit of gambling with borrowed money is one of the most serious mistakes any person can make. Not only can one run the risk of falling heavily into debt and perhaps having to sell one's possessions to payback the borrowed money, but the risk of alienating friends and family members, or infuriating the "money lenders" should be enough reason to avoid this practice at all costs.
Pace yourself: Avoid betting all your money in one go. Remember, the objective is to have fun and enjoy yourself. If your gambling budget is $50, then place bets of $1 or $2 instead of betting the entire $50 on one single bet, losing it and walking away empty handed. As long as the entire sum of money is not lost in one single bet, the player has a chance to win.
Know when to quit: Always quit while you're ahead. The best time to quit is when you are ahead of the casino. Many players make the mistake of thinking that their streak of luck will last forever and continue to gamble until they eventually lose it all. This is mainly the result of overconfidence and greed.
Chasing losses: "Chasing a loss" is a term used to describe the act of trying to win back money that was lost during a previous bet. The problem with this is that the player stands to lose even more money. In this case, it is better to just accept the loss and quit or continue playing for the sole purpose of just having fun.
Maintain a low profile: Whether you are playing for fun or money, winning or losing, always maintain a low profile at a casino. The main reason for this is that one never knows what types of unsavoury characters may be present at a casino. It is in the best interest of every player not to draw attention to his/her own money or winnings.
Emotional states: Never gamble when you are angry or depressed. Emotional states such as anger and depression usually cloud a person's judgment and impair his/her ability to play the games properly. A person who is experiencing an intense emotional state usually lacks the ability to think as clearly as someone who is not.
Don't gamble alone: In some way, it is better to visit a casino with friends or family members if you are planning on gambling. Friends and family members will usually tell you if you are spending too much, drinking too much or not playing properly. In the very least, it is in everyone's best interest to have a sober person in the group who can safely drive everyone home.
Take frequent breaks: As in any other activity be it reading, writing or playing computer games, one should always take frequent breaks to feel refreshed and alert. Although this may not apply to a person who places a few bets before leaving the casino floor, it does apply to gambler who intends on spending a considerable amount of time betting in a casino.
Have fun: Gambling should be viewed as a fun and exciting recreational activity as opposed to a means of making money. Even though most of us have heard of, or read about the occasional gambler who won the big jackpot that changed his/her life, this is usually not the case for the majority of players. Let's face it. The glitz and glamour of casinos were not built on the good fortune of winners. Therefore always play for fun and never for the sole purpose of making money.
Avoid alcohol: Never drink and gamble. Not only can alcohol impair one's judgement, but it can also inflate one's sense of self confidence to the point where the person gambles away money which he/she would never have gambled if he/she was sober. This is one of the main reasons as to why some casinos offer free alcohol to their players.
Avoid distractions: Distractions can come in many forms from the occasional cellular phone ringing to the sexy girl walking past the table, and one should always be mentally prepared to ignore them in order to better focus on the game. Additionally, the loud sounds and flashing lights of a casino may look and sound very exciting, but they are not there to help you concentrate on the game. Try not to become distracted.
By following these basic set of guidelines, one can enjoy his/her visit to a casino and have plenty of fun while minimizing the risk of falling into any financial difficulties.
Article Source: Casino Directory
Expensive Errors in Holdem
There are several expensive errors that are frequently made in poker, especially Hold'em. This article will discuss the two most expensive errors that players make.
What makes these errors so expensive? For one thing, we get an opportunity to make them frequently, and even errors that only cost a portion of a bet can add up to big dollar amounts if they are made often. As well, sometimes when we make these mistakes we are rewarded by winning a big pot, leading us to believe that they are not errors at all. All of us tend to remember the big pots we win with a miracle flop, and forget the thousand times we called a few bets and then lost. This encourages players to make those mistakes even more frequently.
The first error that most players make is to play too many hands. Poker is a game of patience, and it can be boring to throw somewhere between 75% and 85% of your hands away before you even see the flop. The truth however is that you must do just that.
The first 2 cards in Hold'em have some value, the percentage of times that they are expected to win. Another way of looking at this is that over thousands of hands, some starting cards will make a profit, some will approximately break even, and some will lose money.
Of the 169 possible starting hands in Hold'em, only 40 show a profit in the long term. That is less than 25% of the starting hands. After the first 40, there are a few more hands that are break even, or close to it, that can be played for a profit in certain situations, but only in a very few specific situations. I have a table on my web site that shows all 169 hands, their expected value, and the amount you will win or lose over the long term. This data is derived from more than 120 million actual hands played, so it should be fairly accurate. For instance, the data shows that playing a pair of aces over this long term, in a game with a $1 big bet, you can expect to come out ahead by $1.25 million. Now, of course none of us is going to live long enough to play that many hands, but it gives us an idea of the difference between good and bad cards to play. If you compare the pair of aces to say an ace and eight of different suits, which will lose $77,031 over that same number of hands, or an ace and a two of different suits, which will lose $165,968, you begin to see the problem. And hands like these are routinely played by many people at the tables.
Now some of you may be thinking that since you win so much on the pair of aces, and also do pretty well on some of the other top hands, and only lose numbers like $77,000, and $165,000, on the bad hands, that you are still in pretty good shape. If so, consider that if you played all of the 169 starting hands over this long term sample, you would win $7,248,687 on the 40 premium hands, a pretty nice figure. But, you would lose $10,787,747 on the bad hands. After playing for a very long time, you would be $3,539,060 in the hole. Not many of us can afford to play poker that way. The second big mistake that many players make is to cold call too many raises. Cold calling a raise is putting multiple bets into the pot when it is your turn to bet. For example, if someone in early position raises, when the action gets to you in middle position you must call 2 bets in order to play. There are three reasons why this is a big mistake. First, a player in early position liked his hand enough that he was willing to raise with most of the table still to play. Second, if anybody called before it got to you, they liked their hand enough that they were willing to call the 2 bets. Third, there are still players to act after you who could very well re-raise, which would not only cost you more money, but indicates yet another good hand out against you. Also, the original raiser may re-raise again, meaning that it will be 2 more bets when the action gets back to you.
In a situation such as this, with at least 1 big hand against you, and possibly more, you must play only the best hands, AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK suited and AK un-suited. Furthermore, with the AA, KK, QQ and AK suited you should re-raise. If you think that the raiser would raise with hands like AQ, AJ, or less, you should also re-raise with the JJ and AK un-suited. Throw everything else away, it just isn't worth playing.
There are 2 reasons for raising with your premium hands. First, you get more money in the pot with hands that you have a good chance of winning. Second, you will hopefully eliminate a few players from the pot. Big hands like these are best played against fewer players, and you don't want someone with a 5 and 6 to hit 2 pair, or a straight and take the pot away from you.
Remember, play fewer hands. Throw away those ace nine off-suit hands from early and middle position. Don't play a 5 and 9 just because they are suited. And if there is a raise in front of you, fold unless your hand is good enough to re-raise.
Copyright © 2005 A1-PokerInfo.com. All rights reserved. Contact the author at http://A1-PokerInfo.com
Blackjack Quick Start Guide
Before you can play a hand of Blackjack, you must place a bet on the table. The minimum bet amount required to play depends on the table you are at. All winning bets at the Blackjack table are paid even money, except a dealt Blackjack, which is paid three to two. If, for example, you have a $5 bet on the table and receive a Blackjack, you would be paid $7.50.
The game starts with you receiving two cards and the dealer receiving two cards. One card of the dealer is placed face up for you to see. This card is called the "up card" and gives you a little help in guessing what the dealer holds. Each card has a count that's equivalent to its number. So, for example, a two is worth two. The Jack, Queen and King cards are worth ten. The Ace is worth one or eleven—you decide. At the conclusion of each hand, the player closest to twenty-one wins. However, the object is not really to get as close to twenty-one as possible, rather to beat the dealer.
As the player, you go first. You can hit, stand, split, double down or surrender. Here's a description of each action.
Stand: You stay with what you have and end your turn.
Hit: You take another card. You can continue to do this until you are satisfied or bust (go over 21).
Split: If you have two cards of the same type (example: two tens), you can split them up and make two separate hands. You can only split your first two cards.
Double Down: When you double down, you double up your bet and take one final card—and end your turn. You can't double down after you have more than two cards.
Surrender: You kill the hand by taking back half of your money and giving up. Most casinos offer this now. You can only surrender when you have your first two cards.
Once your turn ends, the dealer completes the hand by drawing if needed. Most casinos are setup so that the dealer must hit until the dealer holds a 17. If the casino hits on soft 17, that means any 17 made with an ace (example: Ace and a six) is hit. A hard 17 would be something like a ten and a seven.
You are now ready to hit the Blackjack table and have some fun. It would be good to read up on some blackjack strategy before playing—to maximize your potential. You will find out some key times to not hit no matter what you have and times to double down. Blackjack is a fun game and the house has a low advantage over you—if you know how to play right.
Jason A. Martin former casino dealer, professional gambler and Las Vegas insider. You can get your own content, links and marketing at his gambling website marketing website at GamblerMarketing.com. © Market Junction LLC.
How To Win The Lottery
Everybody wants to win the lottery. It's a game of chance, and your chances of winning the lottery are close to zero. But there are some ways to increase your odds and strike it rich.
Essential: Establish your loss limit!
A loss limit is a limit you set on what your losses will be for a certain day, game or table.
It's the limit of what you can comfortably afford to lose. You never bet down to your last chip. A session should last until your win goal is achieved or your loss limit is reached. When you lose that predetermined amount your play is over.
Loss limits completely eliminate the possibility that you will ever go broke. A loss limit of at least 50% of your bankroll (and no more than 60%) should be observed. This means I can lose anywhere up to 60% but never more. The reason you take more money with you than you put at risk is to eliminate playing with scared money. If you are tempted to play with the extra money then you have no discipline.
You can make the loss limit lower, but never below 25%. You give up your recovery power the more you lower your loss limit. When you are losing you don't have to wait for your exact percentage to be reached to quit. When I'm losing at a certain point and can't get going, I realize I'm in the wrong spot and pack it in at less than my established loss limit.
Fail to do this and you risk going home broke.
Solid Blackjack Tips
Do you love Blackjack? Even if you are just learning how to play, here are some great Blackjack tips. I will reach into my Blackjack strategy bag and pull out 3 Blackjack tips you've got to know. These tips are in the arsenal of every winning Blackjack player on the planet. Perhaps you know a couple already. Let's find out.
Blackjack Tip One: Double Down on 11 Cautiously
Whoa there. Aren't you supposed to double down on 11 always? Actually, you want to double down on 11 most of the time—not all of the time. If the dealer is showing a 10 or face card, you need to proceed with caution. Even with a 9 up, you want to really think it over first. Never make doubling down on 11 automatic.
Blackjack Tip Two: Almost Always Split 8's
As you might know, you can split two cards when they are the same. Many times you shouldn't split, but if you find yourself holding two 8's, think about splitting them. Why should you split them? Well, holding 16 is not good. However, by splitting up the 16, you now have two hands with a realistic shot at becoming 18 or higher. The main goal is win at least one hand so you push and get your money back. Be warned. If the dealer has a 9, 10 or face card showing, you might want to think about other avenues.
Blackjack Tip Three: Double Down on Dealer Bust
This one is a little trickier. If you find yourself holding a hand worth 7 through 11, you might consider doubling down if the dealer's show card is a 5 or 6. If the dealer has a card valued at 9 or 10 underneath, there's a shot that the dealer will bust. These are golden opportunities to increase your bankroll. However, this move is not for the faint of heart or those with a very small bankroll. This move can backfire too. It helps if you have an idea of what type of cards are left in the deck.
There you have it. I just gave you three solid Blackjack tips that will make you a better Blackjack player. The first two will help you play better, and the last one will help you capitalize on golden opportunities while playing. Combined, they help form one solid Blackjack player. Winning at Blackjack consistently is never an accident. It's a skill that can be learned.
Jake Truman conducts online casino reviews at his website, LodeCasino.com.
